The ancient city of Ashur is situated in northern Mesopotamia on the Tigris River in a geo-ecological zone, in-between rain-fed and irrigation agriculture. The city’s origins date back to the 3rd millennium BC. It was the first capital of the Assyrian Empire (14th-9th centuries BC), a city-state and trading post of international significance, while it also served as the Assyrian religious capital, devoted to the god Ashur. The Babylonians destroyed the city, but it revived during the Parthian period in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available.

Assur also spelled Ashur, from Assyrian Aššur, was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq. Assur is also the name of the chief deity of the city. He was considered the highest god in the Assyrian pantheon and the protector of the Assyrian state. In the Mesopotamian mythology he was the equivalent of Babylonian Marduk. The site of Assur is a United Nations World Heritage Site, but was placed on the list of World Heritage Sites in danger in 2003, in part to the conflict in that area, and in part due to a proposed dam, that would flood part of the site. Exploration of the site of Assur began in 1898 by German archaeologists. Excavations began in 1900 by Friedrich Delitzsch, and were continued in 1903-1913. More than 16,000 tablets with cuneiform texts were discovered. Many of the objects found made their way to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.